TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC UTILITIES LAW.
Code of Commerce-Commercial Contracts for Transportation
TITLE VII – COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS
FOR TRANSPORTATION
ARTICLE 349. A contract of transportation
by land or water ways of any kind shall be
considered commercial:
1. When it has for its object merchandise or
any article of commerce.
2. When, whatever its object may be, the
carrier is a merchant or is habitually
engaged in transportation for the public.
ARTICLE 350. The shipper as well as the
carrier of merchandise or goods may mutually
demand that a bill of lading be made, stating:
1. The name, surname and residence of the
shipper.
2. The name, surname and residence of the
carrier.
3. The name, surname and residence of the
person to whom or to whose order the
goods are to be sent or whether they are to be
delivered to the bearer of said bill.
4. The description of the goods, with a
statement of their kind, of their weight, and
of the external marks or signs of the packages
in which they are contained.
5. The cost of transportation.
6. The date on which shipment is made.
7. The place of delivery to the carrier.
8. The place and the time at which delivery
to the consignee shall be made.
9. The indemnity to be paid by the carrier in
case of delay, if there should be
any agreement on this matter.
ARTICLE 351. In transportation made by
railroads or other enterprises subject to
regulation rate and time schedules, it shall be
sufficient for the bills of lading or the
declaration of shipment furnished by the
shipper to refer, with respect to the cost, time
and special conditions of the carriage, to the
schedules and regulations the application of
which he requests; and if the shipper does not
determine the schedule, the carrier must apply
the rate of those which appear to be the
lowest, with the conditions inherent thereto,
always including a statement or reference to in
the bill of lading which he delivers to the
shipper.
ARTICLE 352. The bills of lading, or tickets
in cases of transportation of passengers, may
be diverse, some for persons and others for
baggage; but all of them shall bear the name
of the carrier, the date of shipment, the points
of departure and arrival, the cost, and, with
respect to the baggage, the number and
weight of the packages, with such other
manifestations which may be considered
necessary for their easy identification.
ARTICLE 353. The legal evidence of the
contract between the shipper and the carrier
shall be the bills of lading, by the contents of
which the disputes which may arise regarding
their execution and performance shall be
decided, no exceptions being admissible other
than those of falsity and material error in the
drafting.
After the contract has been complied with, the
bill of lading which the carrier has issued shall
be returned to him, and by virtue of the
exchange of this title with the thing
transported, the respective obligations and
actions shall be considered cancelled, unless
in the same act the claim which the parties
may wish to reserve be reduced to writing, with
the exception of that provided for in Article
366.
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In case the consignee, upon receiving the
goods, cannot return the bill of lading
subscribed by the carrier, because of its loss
or of any other cause, he must give the latter
a receipt for the goods delivered, this receipt
producing the same effects as the return of the
bill of lading.
ARTICLE 354. In the absence of a bill of
lading, disputes shall be determined by the
legal proofs which the parties may present in
support of their respective claims, according to
the general provisions established in this Code
for commercial contracts.
ARTICLE 355. The responsibility of the
carrier shall commence from the moment he
receives the merchandise, personally or
through a person charged for the purpose, at
the place indicated for receiving them.
ARTICLE 356. Carriers may refuse
packages which appear unfit for
transportation; and if the carriage is to be
made by railway, and the shipment is insisted
upon, the company shall transport them, being
exempt from all responsibility if its objections,
is made to appear in the bill of lading.
ARTICLE 357. If by reason of well-founded
suspicion of falsity in the declaration as to the
contents of a package the carrier should
decide to examine it, he shall proceed with his
investigation in the presence of witnesses,
with the shipper or consignee in attendance.
If the shipper or consignee who has to be cited
does not attend, the examination shall be
made before a notary, who shall prepare a
memorandum of the result of the investigation,
for such purpose as may be proper.
If the declaration of the shipper should be true,
the expense occasioned by the examination
and that of carefully repacking the packages
shall be for the account of the carrier and in a
contrary case for the account of the shipper.
ARTICLE 358. If there is no period fixed for
the delivery of the goods the carrier shall be
bound to forward them in the first shipment of
the same or similar goods which he may make
point where he must deliver them; and should
he not do so, the damages caused by the
delay should be for his account.
ARTICLE 359. If there is an agreement
between the shipper and the carrier as to the
road over which the conveyance is to be
made, the carrier may not change the route,
unless it be by reason of force majeure; and
should he do so without this cause, he shall be
liable for all the losses which the goods he
transports may suffer from any other cause,
beside paying the sum which may have been
stipulated for such case.
When on account of said cause of
force majeure, the carrier had to take another
route which produced an increase in
transportation charges, he shall be reimbursed
for such increase upon formal proof thereof.
ARTICLE 360. The shipper, without
changing the place where the delivery is to be
made, may change the consignment of the
goods which he delivered to the carrier,
provided that at the time of ordering the
change of consignee the bill of lading signed
by the carrier, if one has been issued, be
returned to him, in exchange for another
wherein the novation of the contract appears.
The expenses which this change of
consignment occasions shall be for the
account of the shipper.
ARTICLE 361. The merchandise shall be
transported at the risk and venture of the
shipper, if the contrary has not been expressly
stipulated. As a consequence, all the losses
and deterioration which the goods may suffer
during the transportation by reason of
fortuitous event, force majeure, or the inherent
nature and defect of the goods, shall be for the
account and risk of the shipper. Proof of these
accidents is incumbent upon the carrier.
ARTICLE 362. Nevertheless, the carrier
shall be liable for the losses and damages
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resulting from the causes mentioned in the
preceding article if it is proved, as against him,
that they arose through his negligence or by
reason of his having failed to take the
precautions which usage has established
among careful persons, unless the shipper
has committed fraud in the bill of lading,
representing the goods to be of a kind or
quality different from what they really were.
If, notwithstanding the precautions referred to
in this article, the goods transported run the
risk of being lost, on account of their nature or
by reason of unavoidable accident, there
being no time for their owners to dispose of
them, the carrier may proceed to sell them,
placing them for this purpose at the disposal of
the judicial authority or of the officials
designated by special provisions.
ARTICLE 363. Outside of the cases
mentioned in the second paragraph of Article
361, the carrier shall be obliged to deliver the
goods shipped in the same condition in which,
according to the bill of lading, they were found
at the time they were received, without any
damage or impairment, and failing to do so, to
pay the value which those not delivered may
have at the point and at the time at which their
delivery should have been made.
If those not delivered form part of the goods
transported, the consignee may refuse to
receive the latter, when he proves that he
cannot make use of them independently of the
others.
ARTICLE 364. If the effect of the damage
referred to in Article 361 is merely a diminution
in the value of the goods, the obligation of the
carrier shall be reduced to the payment of the
amount which, in the judgment of experts,
constitutes such difference in value.
ARTICLE 365. If, in consequence of the
damage, the goods are rendered useless for
sale and consumption for the purposes for
which they are properly destined, the
consignee shall not be bound to receive them,
and he may have them in the hands of the
carrier, demanding of the latter their value at
the current price on that day.
If among the damaged goods there should be
some pieces in good condition and without any
defect, the foregoing provision shall be
applicable with respect to those damaged and
the consignee shall receive those which are
sound, this segregation to be made by distinct
and separate pieces and without dividing a
single object, unless the consignee proves the
impossibility of conveniently making use of
them in this form.
The same rule shall be applied to merchandise
in bales or packages, separating those parcels
which appear sound.
ARTICLE 366. Within the twenty-four hours
following the receipt of the merchandise, the
claim against the carrier for damage or
average be found therein upon opening the
packages, may be made, provided that the
indications of the damage or average which
gives rise to the claim cannot be ascertained
from the outside part of such packages, in
which case the claim shall be admitted only at
the time of receipt.
After the periods mentioned have elapsed, or
the transportation charges have been paid, no
claim shall be admitted against the carrier with
regard to the condition in which the goods
transported were delivered.
ARTICLE 367. If doubts and disputes should
arise between the consignee and the carrier
with respect to the condition of the goods
transported at the time their delivery to the
former is made, the goods shall be examined
by experts appointed by the parties, and, in
case of disagreement, by a third one
appointed by the judicial authority, the results
to be reduced to writing; and if the interested
parties should not agree with the expert
opinion and they do not settle their differences,
the merchandise shall be deposited in a safe
warehouse by order of the judicial authority,
and they shall exercise their rights in the
manner that may be proper.
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ARTICLE 368. The carrier must deliver to
the consignee, without any delay or
obstruction, the goods which he may have
received, by the mere fact of being named in
the bill of lading to receive them; and if he does
not do so, he shall be liable for the damages
which may be caused thereby.
ARTICLE 369. If the consignee cannot be
found at the residence indicated in the bill of
lading, or if he refuses to pay the
transportation charges and expenses, or if he
refuses to receive the goods, the municipal
judge, where there is none of the first instance,
shall provide for their deposit at the disposal of
the shipper, this deposit producing all the
effects of delivery without prejudice to third
parties with a better right.
ARTICLE 370. If a period has been fixed for
the delivery of the goods, it must be made
within such time, and, for failure to do so, the
carrier shall pay the indemnity stipulated in the
bill of lading, neither the shipper nor the
consignee being entitled to anything else.
If no indemnity has been stipulated and the
delay exceeds the time fixed in the bill of
lading, the carrier shall be liable for the
damages which the delay may have caused.
ARTICLE 371. In case of delay through the
fault of the carrier, referred to in the preceding
articles, the consignee may leave the goods
transported in the hands of the former,
advising him thereof in writing before their
arrival at the point of destination.
When this abandonment takes place, the
carrier shall pay the full value of the goods as
if they had been lost or mislaid.
If the abandonment is not made, the
indemnification for losses and damages by
reason of the delay cannot exceed the current
price which the goods transported would have
had on the day and at the place in which they
should have been delivered; this same rule is
to be observed in all other cases in which this
indemnity may be due.
ARTICLE 372. The value of the goods which
the carrier must pay in cases if loss or
misplacement shall be determined in
accordance with that declared in the bill of
lading, the shipper not being allowed to
present proof that among the goods declared
therein there were articles of greater value and
money.
Horses, vehicles, vessels, equipment and all
other principal and accessory means of
transportation shall be especially bound in
favor of the shipper, although with respect to
railroads said liability shall be subordinated to
the provisions of the laws of concession with
respect to the property, and to what this Code
established as to the manner and form of
effecting seizures and attachments against
said companies.
ARTICLE 373. The carrier who makes the
delivery of the merchandise to the consignee
by virtue of combined agreements or services
with other carriers shall assume the
obligations of those who preceded him in the
conveyance, reserving his right to proceed
against the latter if he was not the party directly
responsible for the fault which gave rise to the
claim of the shipper or consignee.
The carrier who makes the delivery shall
likewise acquire all the actions and rights of
those who preceded him in the
conveyance. The shipper and the consignee
shall have an immediate right of action against
the carrier who executed the transportation
contract, or against the other carriers who may
have received the goods transported without
reservation.
However, the reservation made by the latter
shall not relieve them from the responsibilities
which they may have incurred by their own
acts.
ARTICLE 374. The consignees to whom the
shipment was made may not defer the
payment of the expenses and transportation
charges of the goods they receive after the
lapse of twenty-four hours following their
delivery; and in case of delay in this payment,
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the carrier may demand the judicial sale of the cover the cost of transportation and the
goods transported in an amount necessary to expenses incurred.

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